Reid's First Last Lecture
by Not A Droid
Summary: Sequel to "Their Chosen Battle". A suspended Reid tells his side of things in a lecture to FBI cadets, and a few special guests. See what lead up to him being accused of attempted murder and treason.
1. Waking Up

_A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or Criminal Minds; no copyright infringement is intended. At many universities there is a tradition of a tenured professor giving a last lecture. These often encompass what the professor would say if they had one last lecture to give. As we will see, Dr. Reid, who was set to teach a course at the FBI academy, is in a unique situation. This is the sequel to "Their Chosen Battle". At the moment, I'm intending this to be T rated, but that may change._

**Chapter 1: Waking Up

* * *

**

The alarm went off, bringing Spencer Reid into a state of wakefulness. He hit the snooze button, and opened his eye just enough to see if Emily was stirring. Spencer was beginning to believe that one of the ingredients to true happiness was waking up with your wife laying next to you. It didn't look like she was stirring, which was just fine with Spencer. He really didn't want to get up. He positioned himself closer to Emily, specifically to her belly. His fingers lightly touched her belly where their unborn child was growing and he whispered," It's okay. Everything will be okay, I promise."

He was startled when Emily's hand started stroking his head. "Do you believe that? Or are you putting on a brave face for our child?"

"A little of each, I think." Spencer rolled over until he was looking at Emily's face. There was something very comforting about looking at her eyes, especially since he hadn't had the luxury of looking at them a few weeks ago.

"It will be okay Spencer. Today things are going to change."

"I don't need a lot of change, Em. I'm married to you, and we have a child on the way. I'd just like to be able to go back to work."

"I know. I think you'll be able to after today. If not, there's always plan B."

"I didn't know we had a plan B."

"I thought you had one."

"Are you messing with me?"

She smiled her teasing smile at him. "I'm trying to lighten your mood."

"Tell me neither one of us has to go anywhere today. That will do wonders for my mood."

"We do have to. We went to a lot of effort setting today up, we need to get up and get started. You're going to give the greatest lecture ever given."

The alarm went off again. Emily turned it off and got out of bed.

After a minute or so, Spencer got out of bed too.

"You realize the entire plan depends on me being an effective public speaker?"

"That's the part I like."

"Why?"

"Because if it works, you will have no reason to doubt yourself as a public speaker ever again. Just remember to relax."

"You know, I do some of my best work in a state of panic."

"Sometimes. You do need to evoke a certain level of calm today though."

"But no pressure."

"No, there's tons of pressure, but no matter what happens I love you and I'm proud of you."

"For what Em? If I blow it, what is there to be proud of?"

Emily Prentiss-Reid kissed her husband full on the mouth. When she broke off the kiss she looked him in the eyes and said," The only thing you have to do is give the lecture. Be the man you always are, because that's who I love. That's the you I stood by, and he deserves to be exonerated."

"What if he's not? Exonerated I mean. There's a pretty good chance giving a lecture to FBI cadets while I suspended will push Strauss over the edge."

"Then the powers that be are wrong."

"But what if they decide this is the end?"

"Plan B."

"We don't have a plan B!"

"Not yet. If we have to, we'll figure that out tonight. Now get ready, we've got to get going."

Reid would have been ready a lot sooner if Emily hadn't supervised him getting ready. He was always just a touch careless about his appearance. Most days she let him, but today she knew his appearance was going to be just as important as the content of what he had to say. The one concession she made was to allow him to wear two very different colored socks. He always maintained these socks brought him luck There were many times when she pretended it bothered her when he wore them, but the truth was she found that quirk amusing and just a little sexy.

In spite of the delay though, they were driving to the lecture hall in relatively short amount of time. Emily pondered that it was a strange set of circumstances that lead to Spencer's professional future riding on a him giving a lecture. Then again, it was a strange set of circumstances that lead him to be being suspected of attempted murder and treason, then exonerated of those charges only to be suspended.

Spencer, for his part, wasn't contemplating any of that. He kept thinking, without any reason he was satisfied with, that his mother would be very proud of him if she could be here to see her son give this lecture. She should be here, he thought, since she was a part of this case.

As soon as they pulled into the parking lot of the academy, they shoved their musings aside. And went to the scene of what could be the first, and last, lecture Reid would give teaching FBI cadets.

* * *

_A/N: Coming up next: Spencer Reid starts his lecture._


	2. The Elephant in the Room

_A/N: see chapter 1 for my disclaimer._

**Chapter 2: The Elephant in the Room

* * *

**

Chief Strauss was not having a good morning. Dr. Barry Peters was beginning to wonder if she ever did have days where she looked happy. Every time he was in her presence she had a glare that made him think she had nothing but vinegar in her soul. He knew that wasn't the case, but that was the impression he got when he saw her. Today he knew why she was unhappy.

The two of them were talking with Leonard Parsons, who was in charge of the seminar series of the academy.

"Just what the hell are you thinking Leonard? Did you not know that Dr. Reid is under suspension?"

"Oh I knew. Dr. Reid told me. His wife told me. Agent Hotchner told me. I just assumed since all the charges against him were dropped that would be over soon. Was I in error?"

"Yes."

Leonard looked at Dr. Peters. "Really? For what purpose?"

"Don't look him, Leonard. And don't pretend you didn't know this was a problem."

"Well, I've been trying to get Dr. Reid in this lecture hall for a while. I was hoping he would be teaching this fall. The fact you still have him on suspension makes me nervous. So, yes, when he approached me about doing this I leaped at it. I'm sorry if that's a problem chief, but he is an infinite resource of knowledge. The kind of person we need teaching."

Strauss was about to respond to Parsons when a voice said, "The kind we need in the field, too." She turned around to see SSA Aaron Hotchner standing there.

"We've already had this discussion, Aaron."

"Obviously it didn't do much good. There is no reason for Agent Reid to be still on suspension."

"If he wants to appeal the decision, this isn't the way to do it."

"Well, it is a way to get people's attention."

"There is one thing I'm curious about," Dr. Peters said. "I have it in my notes from before that Dr. Reid isn't particularly confident in his prowess as a public speaker. Is that accurate?"

"It is." Hotch said.

"That's an understatement." Dave Rossi seemed to appear out of nowhere. "They keep sending him to do recruitment talks. He's not good at it."

"Which is why you aren't allowed to give him any pep talks." Emily Prentiss-Reid was smiling as she said it. "It is so nice everyone could come. You might want to find a seat. You won't want to miss a moment of this."

Strauss gave Emily a look that was more of a glare. She was about to say something when Emily, very sweetly, said "I know you don't approve of us doing this, Chief Strauss. I'm just so glad you're allowing Spencer to have his podium today."

"The Deputy Director didn't give me much of a choice. I didn't realize he knew your parents."

"Oh he doesn't ma'am. We made our case to him directly. Spencer can be very convincing sometimes. I think you'll see today how he rises to the occasion."

As Strauss, Hotch and Rossi found their seats, Dr. Peters stayed behind to talk with Emily.

"Agent Prentiss-Reid. Wow, that is still a mouthful. I know, I know it's important to you to have his name. I'm curious, who's idea was this? Yours or his?"

"Why does that matter?"

"I find it curious that his plan to undo his suspension is to address a class of FBI agents in training is all."

"And special guests, like the Deputy Director and yourself."

"But he doesn't like public speaking. This isn't a forum where he feels confident. It's a unusual choice. I'm guessing this was your idea."

"What if was? So what?"

"Rudyard Kipling said the silliest woman can manage a clever man, but it needs a very clever woman to manage a fool. Of course, Kipling doesn't make a distinction about geniuses."

Her eyes got hard, and her tone got angry. "First of all, Spencer doesn't like the term genius. It's too inexact a term for his taste. Second, I don't manage him. I don't try to manage him." Her eyes softened as did her tone. "I do, however, love and support him. Like he does me."

"You know Emily," Dr. Peters said," sometime I would like to sit down with the two of and have a nice long talk. You two fascinate me. I have a feeling I'm going to enjoy this lecture."

As everyone took seats, Leonard Parsons got up in front of the group. "I'm so pleased to everyone here today. Our speaker today has been an incredible asset to the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit for over 5 years. He has earned 3 PhDs and a number of BA's but I think it's his experience in the BAU that will be of the most interest to us. Please welcome Dr. Spencer Reid."

Reid stood in front of the audience and suddenly his eidetic memory failed him. He couldn't remember what he was going to say. He started to panic. Then, suddenly, a single thought entered his head.

"A colleague of mine says when there's an elephant in the room, introduce it. Some of you may know, I'm currently on suspension right now. The purpose of this lecture is to go over the tools we use in the BAU. The way I'm going to do that, is show how those tools were used in the case that earned me a suspension. As well as being accused of attempted murder and treason."

He clicked the remote control in his hand, and a slide came in view. It listed the following:

Adam Jackson disappears

Diana Reid disappears

Adam calls Dr. Reid

Dr. Reid disappears

Dr. Reid's laptop has suspicious files

Adam is found

Diana Reid is found

"This is the brief outline of what happened is as follows. First Adam Jackson disappeared from the facility his was in. What we didn't know was if he escaped or someone took him. Shortly after that my mother disappeared from the medical facility where she's a patient. Shortly after that, I got a call from Adam telling me he has my mother."

As far as the team knew, I disappeared after that. All they had left was my laptop, which had files that linked me with a terrorist group. Shortly after that, Adam was found, almost dead and unconscious. After that, my mother reappeared. Soon, as everyone in this room undoubtedly knows, there was a manhunt for me. When I reappeared, the reasons for what happened were made clear. While this is far from a typical case for the BAU, it provides us the opportunity to see many of the tools we use put into practice. So, let's begin."

* * *

_A/N: The saying, "When there's an elephant in the room, introduce it" is from Randy Pausch's Last Lecture._

_The outline just scratches the surface of what happened. Get ready, we've got a bumpy ride ahead of us. Up next: The Invitation_


	3. The Invitation

_A/N:Disclaimer: see Chapter 1._

_As Dr. Reid continues with his lecture, we learn more of the story..._

**Chapter 3: The Invitation**

* * *

" The BAU," Dr. Reid said," only comes when we are invited. Usually this invitation comes from the local police or even the local field office. Under normal circumstances, everything is handled through the unit liaison. In this case, however, I got a phone call from a facility in Texas letting me know that Adam Jackson disappeared."

* * *

It was a low key day at the BAU. They didn't have a case to travel for. Everyone was working on individual consults. Emily looked over at Spencer's desk. He had been talking on the phone with someone, but now he was just sitting there. Was he done already? It was amazing sometimes how fast his brain worked. His ability to speed read allowed him to move through mounds of paper work easily. It was almost sickening.

Emily was in the middle of a consult, which is why it took her a few moments to recognize what his expression was. He wasn't done. He had received information he was trying to process. Whatever it was, it shocked him. If he was shocked, then it was something extraordinarily bad.

She walked over to his desk and gently put her hands on his shoulders, she spoke just above a whisper. "What's wrong, honey?"

He didn't speak. She wasn't certain he heard her. "Spencer, was is it?"

"Adam. He's missing."

She kissed him on the top of his head. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. I want go see what happened. Did he escape? If he did, was is at as Amanda or as Adam? Or has developed a new personality since the last time I visited."

"He must have escaped. What else could have happened?"

"I don't know. But I don't want to leave you."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to leave you alone, not when it's almost the end of the first trimester. "

"That's all right, I'm not letting you go alone."

"Em, you need to start taking it easy."

"Come one, Dr. Prentiss, let's go talk to Hotch."

Spencer found it hard to refuse when she called him that.

* * *

"Dr. Prentiss?" There was an attractive redhead in the front row. Spencer shot a look at his wife. Emily had a bemused smile on her face. She nodded encouragingly at him.

"It's a private joke between me and my wife. I call her Mrs. Reid, she calls me Dr. Prentiss. On our good days, we respond well to those names."

"On your bad days?"

"That's for a completely different lecture. For this one, however, our next step was to talk to our team leader, SSA Aaron Hotchner.

* * *

In Hotch's office, the two of them went over what had happened with their boss.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

"We'd like permission to go down there and see what happened." Emily said.

"We haven't been invited," Hotch pointed out.

"We haven't been invited by law enforcement," Reid said,"but Adam's doctors called me to let me know. This really isn't so much a case for the team as much as part of one of my research projects, anyway."

"Which one?" Members of the BAU usually had a few research projects going on at any given time, mostly designed to further increase their knowledge and understanding of human behavior.

"Understanding dissociative identity disorder in the killing team context."

"How many subjects do you have?"

"Two. It's a very small sample, but the only two I've found are Adam and Tobias Henkel. The thing is Hotch, I have a hard time believing Adam or Amanda escaped."

"Why not?"

"Adam wouldn't think to do it, and Amanda has been more relaxed and accepting of me lately. The only reason she would escape would be to protect Adam, but no one is threatening him right now. Unless something happened since the last time I was there."

"If he didn't escape, then what could have happened?"

"Somebody took him."

Emily and Hotch considered that possibility for a few moments.

"Who would would've taken him?" Hotch asked.

"Is there really anyone who would want revenge? His stepfather couldn't do it." Emily was trying to run through possible suspects in her head, but no likely ones leaped out at her.

"i don't know. There isn't an obvious answer to this."

"Take three days," Hotch said. "If it looks like Adam escaped, come back unless we get an invitation. If it looks like he was abducted, call JJ. Maybe we can get an invitation. Check with JJ and see if the jet's available."

They thanked Hotch and Reid went to see JJ. Hotch motioned Emily to stay. "Is he going okay? I mean, I know he feels like he's obligated to help Adam. Can he be objective about this?"

"Of course he can. This is Reid. Whatever he feels, he's still interested in the truth."

"Emily, I'm not suggesting otherwise it's just that…I'm concerned."

"That's all the more reason for me to go with him, to help him. "

Hotch nodded. "OK. Good luck."

* * *

"So Emily and I went to Texas. What we didn't know was that the two of us going together had upset someone's plans. We didn't realize that we were being watched very closely."

* * *

Near the airfield the BAU used, two men sat in a car. One of them was looking through binoculars. " I see them. Yeah, there they go and … Oh crap. They're both boarding."

"Are you sure?"

"They both just got on the plane, and they both had carry on bags."

"I'll call it in." The man dialed on his cell phone. The told the person on the other end, "Yeah, he's on his way but his wife is with him."

"Hold position and wait further instructions," the person on the other end of the phone. When they hung up, the man looked at the man sitting across table in the restaurant. "There's a problem, Mr. Ledger. Both Dr. Reid _and_ his wife are going to Texas."

Ledger took another bite of his Reuben sandwich as he considered this. "They never make it easy, do they? OK, tell the team in Texas we're going to plan B. Let the team in Vegas know they're a go. Oh, and keep an eye on the rest of Dr. Reid's team. If they get involved in this, we might need to go to plan C."

"Plan C?"

"It'll be messy, but if they get involved it will be necessary."

"It occurs to me there's an easier way to do this."

"Oh, I'm with you. A few hours alone with the subject and we'll have our result. But Hadrian wants it done this way. So, that's how we'll play it."

* * *

"So who are they?" The red-haired woman asked.

The bemused smile on Reid's face was familiar to his co-workers, especially his wife. They almost expected him to say a magician doesn't reveal his secrets.

Instead, he scanned the audience and said, "Let's see if you can guess. Let's see if anyone can figure it out before I tell you at the end."

* * *

_A/N: Maybe some of you can figure it out before the last chapter ..._


	4. Crime Scene Analysis

_A/N: Sorry about the long time since I've updated this fic. I had an amazing amount of writer's block._

**Chapter 4: Crime Scene Analysis  
**

Reid stared at the cadets and guests in the lecture hall. His eyes looked again to his wife, but he was also looking at someone else. Reid was looking to notice the person's facial expression and body language. Jason Gideon once said interrogation is the most dynamic form of profiling. Whether this person knew it or not, this was an interrogation. Reid just hoped he would get the confirmation he was looking for.

Then the red-haired cadet raised her hand again.

"Yes, I'm sorry, your name please?" Reid asked.

"Scott. Theresa Scott."

"Yes, your question?"

"Well, it was just you and your wife on the plane going to Texas. How would that be enough? To investigate the disappearance, I mean?"

Reid smiled. "Well, weren't going to try to find Adam so much as to see if he escaped or someone took him. Essentially, we were going to analyze the crime scene. Understand, we don't look at things the same way investigators do. We look to see what the behavior says."

"Who's behavior?"

"That's actually the first question Emily and I were debating."

* * *

On the plane, Reid kept looking out the window. He kept turning it over and over in his head, what had happened? Had Adam escaped? Or was it Amanda? Or had...

"What about Nemesis?" Emily asked.

"What?" Reid knew she was talking, but he hadn't really been paying attention.

"For a name? What about Nemesis?"

"What are you naming?"

"I knew you were zoning out. I talking about names for our child."

"Nemesis? Do you think you're giving birth to a creature from Greek mythology?"

"It's a very distinctive name."

"Why are you even thinking about names now? We don't even know the sex yet."

"I think it helps."

"Really?" Reid was skeptical.

She smiled. "No. I'm trying to pull you out of where your head is. What are you thinking about?"

"Just wondering what we're walking into. Is it an escape or an abduction? If it's an escape, who escaped? Adam or Amanda? And if it's an abduction, who was the target? Adam or Amanda?"

"That's the kind of thing we should talk about, you shouldn't try to figure it out yourself."

"How do we figure it out?"

"I don't think we can on the plane," Emily said. "It's like the time we tried to figure out how a dead killer's DNA ended up on a victim. Remember? You floated the idea of a twin?"

"Given the information we had at the time," Reid said," it was an hypothesis that fit all the facts we had."

"Except we had no evidence he had a twin brother."

"But a twin was the most obvious scenario for explaining duplicate DNA."

"So what's the most obvious scenario for explaining this?"

"I don't know. The problem is that we don't know what we're trying to explain. Was it an abduction or an escape?"

"We won't know until we get there. Why would someone abduct Adam? Or Amanda?"

"Revenge? A relative of a victim?"

"Why not just kill him right there."

"I don't know. Escaping, that sound more like Adam than Amanda. Unless..."

"Yeah?"

"Unless Amanda thought someone on the outside was threatening Adam somehow."

"Like his stepfather?"

"That doesn't seem likely. He never even visited."

"Maybe we need to see who his visitors were."

"There's one possibility we haven't considered yet."

"What's that, Spencer?"

"What if it wasn't either an abduction or an escape?"

"What do you mean?"

"You had you finger on it a moment ago. What if someone killed him, and then dumped the body? Or hid it?"

"Why hide it?"

"Maybe someone on staff killed him."

"Even if they didn't, an inside job is the simplest explanation for an abduction."

"Yeah."

A few hours later, they were at the treatment center. While Emily looked at the visitor's logs for Adam, Reid stood in Adam's room. To the casual observer it appeared he was just looking around randomly, at the corners of the room. He touched a few things here and there, but the truth was he was taking everything thing and and considering what it meant.

Emily walked in the room with the doctor.

"It looks like you were Adam's most frequent visitor. In fact, you were his only visitor over the past 6 months. How do things look in here?"

"You tell me."

Emily looked around. "Didn't you say she loved smoking?"

"It was a reward for good behavior."

"Yet she left a pack of cigarettes behind. And her purse. I don't think this was an escape. Unless it was Adam, not Amanda who ran."

"Yeah. Maybe they have some security video we can send to Garcia."

"No luck there. I had them check the video. There was nothing. They said they've been having trouble with the system lately."

"This is starting to sound more and more like an abduction."

"By who, though?"

"We need the team."

"I know." She patted his shoulder reassuringly when his cellphone went off.

"Yes?"

"Spencer? It's Dr. Norman."

It was his mother's doctor from La Vegas. "Dr. Norman? Is something wrong?"

"I'm afraid so. Dr. Reid, your mother missing."

"Missing?"

"She was at dinner, but not at bed check. Our security staff reviewed the surveillance tapes, and saw her being wheeled out by a nurse no one knows. I've called the police."

"Are they going to investigate?"

"Since it's a patient, yes."

"I'm going to give you a number. As soon as they get there, call the number and ask to speak with Agent Jareau. She'll need to talk with the police. I'll be there soon." After he hung up the phone, his eyes met Emily's.

"What's wrong?"

"Mom's gone. Someone impersonated a nurse and took her."

"This isn't a coincidence."

"I don't think so. There's two things they have in common. They're both mental health patients and ..."

"You."

"This is bad Emily."

"We'll figure it out."

"That's not what I'm afraid of."

"Then what?"

"That you might be the next target."


End file.
